TRAVELOGUE-VALLEY OF FLOWERS

                                                      


The only way to come out of current form of depression was to do a ZNMD.I took a spontaneous decision ..so be it.I said to myself.!If i stay here for more than a day my Grey cells will be pancaked ,burned,toasted and fried.I needed a partner to accompany me...It was too difficult to get a traveling partner even.Barishal came up to me the . day and said-"what is this yaar..am really getting fed off..letz go somewhere"
I said-lets go outside the state,i will show u some good places.
barishal:-"i meant to say nearby places..in and around bhubaneswar...but anyways if you have decided then who am i to change it?'"
So that was that...a road trip planned in a spur of seconds,and thatz how it is supposed to be planned.
The place was finally decided-"VALLEY OF FLOWERS"..a heaven on earth ,where nearly about 30 000 species of flowers bloom in their peak period.After lots of Google search,blog query we found that the place was something really worth watching out for,at least in a lifetime.

It is placed in the remotest part of north-west uttarakhand which opens up only for few months in the autumn season.It is not a place for family vacations ,it was meant for serious backpackers.The nearest railway station from the destination was nearly about 300kms which made it a 12-13 hours strenuous road journey in the hilly terrains.Moreover,we had to go through 4-5 transit (like dehradun,joshimath,govindghat and ghangaria)points before we could finally make it to the summit.Wow...that just sounded like what i wished for,loosing yourself into the wilderness.



So the trip was planned and trains booked.I would now like to give the detailed account of every bit of experience we had during the course of our journey..
DAY 1:-BOARDING BHUBANESWAR-DELHI RAJDHANI EXPRESS

We booked rajdhani express not because we were rich dad's kids ,but because we had a tough 10 day itinerary ahead.
Rajdhani was swift and fast.Took less than 22 hours to reach new delhi.

The service was good,we  never ran out of empty stomach as every couple of hours there was something to serve
The railways have really grown good through their public-private partnership.Catering and cleanliness services being maintained through private firms while the rest by centre.
Good food,an enjoyable A.C and the rich country though its diverse topography to galre at-what more can you ask for?

DAY 2:-BOARDING DELHI-DEHRADUN JAN SHATABDI

Reached delhi by 11 am.It was too humid out there.We had our next train after 5 hours.We pondered for the 1st class waiting room...we reached!!
Gosh!!is it a 1st class waiting room??forget about getting a decent place to sit,there were queue even for going to the bathroom.At last we had to settle with the platform which was relatively clean,tidy,less noisy and of course less stinky.From the very first look of NDLS,u wonder watz going on with the people??the businessmen ,corporates CLINGING ON with their mobile phones and with a agonizing,rough and harsh tone yelling at their subordinates,students hurrying for their classes,foreign tourist finding their way out of the crowd,the policemen busy checking luggage,a family waiting for their next train,anonymous person coming to you and asking-"bhai saab kamra,gaadi cahiye?' and in the middle of nowhere a drunkard yelling and lying down on the tracks!!You get a glimpseof all spheres of life through a single glance.
And suddenly,sumwhere from platform no 16 ..i hear slogans-"anna hazare,zindabad..anna hazare"
Yes ,it was the fourth day of anna hazare's 13day hunger strike.Being in the epicentre of this historical political event of modern india...lots of thought preoccupied me,like can lokpal bill be effective?As youth what are we doing actually??getting into BPO,doing jobs and saying with a proud feeling-"we are the contributors of this ever growing economy".I have been following this news neatly for the past few weeks..so it afftected me in some way or other.

JANSHATABDI finally arrived around 3pm.Going through the green paddy fields of haryana it eventually was the time of dusk and i felt asleep soon.

FRI,DEHRADUN

DAY 3:-MOUNT THE CAB,AND AWAY FOR THE 10 HOURS JOURNEY TO JOSHIMATH:-
Morning 6 o' clock,dehradun..wat more can you ask for???.Last night we checked into the hotel room really tired..so was unable to go through the city properly which i had left 8 years  ago.It was all about nostalgia..the beautiful ,serene city under the watchful eyes of shiwaliks..was the most peaceful one at dawn.

DEVPRAYAG

We moved into a cab ..carrying 8 grown up adults.I tried being nice with my fellow passengers as getting a decent place to sit in the 10 hour journey was an uphill task.After an hour drive along the national higway..we reached the city of tranquility.Yes ,you  have guessed it right -rishikesh.They say through a running stream you are unable to see your face properly but when the same stream is low,silent you will be able to see your face without any difficulty.In other words our life is also like a running stream ..its only through meditation that we know our "self".This is what this city says.It was the monsoons,so ganges were in their fierce form.The roads werent even too wide to encourage you enough to move forth.But you know what-the garwhalis have a courage of their own.There were frequent stops our way due to severe landslides..and from severe i meant "VERY SEVERE".The driver spoke of his experiences with landslides and how risky is it to drive in such terrains due heavy weather.In some places we virtually travelled over mud filled road with the four wheeler giving every indication of sliding into the deep gorge.
Somehow we managed and reached devprayag by noon.Had some simple ,yet delicious lunch-roti,kadi,sabzi..bas!!and in the background the roaring sound of the Ganges deep in the valley.We couldn't stay for much more time at devprayag as  were running late.
Devprayag is the confluence of alaknanda and bhagirathi.Hndu hymns,devotees and the smell of camphor,agarbattis cover this place.After crossing srinagar(not the J&K) wala..there was a serious landslide.The whole of the highway was gone.The jcb's couldn't mend the road as humongous  stones kept sliding ,falling from a dizzling height.Eventually it was near to dusk.The driver came to us and said that it will take another 24 hours for the road to completely get renovated.There was no food,water to drink nearby.We were literaly starving.The driver came up with a suggestion -we take a short cut and reach gopeshwar(60kms from joshimath) latest by 8pm.The locales sitting in the cab agreed as they knew this place better.Barishal and I just looked over each other's face.

God do you call this a "short cut?"There was no road at all.Those were just "pakdandi"..where cows use to graze.It was getting dark and the thick forest around gave it a spooky touch.We were the first one to go through that "short cut"..the rest vehicles followed us .There were also other four wheelers coming from the other end and i only know how dese guys managed to cross it when there was every possibilty of getting hit .Someow we managed to reach chamoli by 10 pm.It was pitch dark.It had started raining.The generous driver showed a good motel to stay in.I was hungry like a wild buffalo.I just gulped the vegetarian food in no time.


DAY 4:-THE MOST DISASTROUS DAY OF THE TOUR
I woke up around 7 in the morning ..and was just amazed to see the beauty of nature.Quiet,silent. Only sound that touches your senses are the drizzling raindrops.
After having a stupendous garma garam chai we checked out of hotel and booked a cab to go to joshimath.When we had covered just 2kms..what we saw was really terrifying!A landslide bigger,dangerous,riskier than the previous one.Forget about mending the road..it was too risky to even walk and cross it as there was a huge ,monstrous stream

cutting the land like a razor's edge.The driver gave up and said it would be too dangerous to travel forward also he also got some notifications from his fellow mates from phone that conditions ahead are far too vulnerable.So finally we decided to step back and go back to the plains where conditions will be a bit easy.
The month long vacation had to be canceled after all.At first it didnt go well inside ..so i just reconciled myself-"next tym beta..next tym"
DAY 5:-BACK TO DEHRADUN

HOWITZER AT IMA,DEHRADUN

So we finally came back to dehradun.And you know what..it had to be Sunday!!My friends who were in IMA(indian military academy) were given liberty (permission to go out,meet acquaintances)only on Sunday!whoa man..it couldn't have got better than this.It seemed like god is just playing a short scripted story to meet the distant friends.8 years..it was 8 years that i was meeting one of my dearest friend-Ankur.He saw,hugged me and gave a smile which spoke of lots of unspoken expressions.It couldn't have been better.There is something very different about IMA..Ur fortunate enough if u get a opportunity to serve here...in this prestigious institute.
Watch movies Lakshya and soorya-son of krishnan(telugu).u cn get a gr8 deal of impression about the institute.

AT IMA CANTEEN WID ANKUR AND SANDEEP

THE PAVILLION

After having lunch..i moved to gahri cantt,to my Alma matter-RIMC.
Just the moment when i entered the school,all past memories just gushed through my neural network.Oh man was i here some years ago??I always wanted to come here for a visit..and see how fate has led me...it has to be like this.I was content,satisfied..and happy

.For a moment i forgot about my worries,my cgpa,about everything that bothered me.I was in my true self.coming back to the place where u have taken the ultimate lessons of your life makes you feel really...umm wat do u say that..sry folks it aint in my vocabulary.Do help me.
That was indeed a very senti senti kind of feeling which i am not normally used to.
DAY 6,7,8,9:-THE RETURN JOURNEY
It wasn't a unsuccessful trip at least.Although we had set for valley of flowers,we ended up in things which we never planned to.We stayed at dehradun for one more day...I took up the responsibility to show barishal the true spirit of north indian cuisine.Whatever i offered ..he too some seconds to finish it up and start licking his fingers..Like the north indian ki "soni soni kudiyan"..yahan kay jaykay bhi lajawab they.I never liked the idea of leaving this place and going back to bhubaneswar.Via delhi ,we reached bhubaneswar after 2 days.Thus the nearly 10 days ka travel came to an end..and it was really difficult on my part to come back to ground once again and start gain from beginning..in other words 5th semester eventually started.